St. Mark's graduates earn their 'prize'

"Valedictorian" roughly translates from Latin to "goodbye-sayer," Gertrude Storey Akers explained as she offered fond and not-so-fond farewells in a speech at St. Mark's School yesterday.

Good riddance, the valedictorian said, to a faulty heating system, fire drills in the snow, physical education and chicken-based meals of all kinds.

But in its commencement yesterday morning, the Class of 2007 also was saying goodbye to a home and institution that equips young minds with the intellectual tools to survive out in the world, Akers said.

"I do not believe there is one person in our class who is not happy with who they've become," Akers said. "We all still need work, but who doesn't?"

Akers recalled good times and bad in a speech that got plenty of laughs. Part of the learning experience was seeing the school is not a utopia, she said. Likewise, classmates made strong bonds by living together and getting to know each other, warts and all.

"You see them dirty, tired ... but breakdowns and breakups are what make friends," Akers said.

She said all her classmates could find ways to contribute in life after St. Mark's and told faculty she didn't yet know all she'd gained from the school.

"I predict many a thing I found totally useless will come in handy one day," Akers joked.

By St. Mark's tradition, the graduating class votes for its valedictorian, rather than giving that honor to the student with the highest marks.

Kristen Elizabeth Whaley, the student with the highest grade-point average, instead won the Founders Medal and the William G. Thayer Scholarship Fund Prize, among other honors.

The keynote speaker, alum Julie Kennedy of the Class of 1989, spoke about working in foreign aid and eliminating global poverty. She urged students to find a passion. She said it's possible "to do good while doing well."

During a trip to address food shortages in sub-Saharan Africa, Kennedy recalled finding herself on a plane with a diverse group of imams, soldiers, Africans and Americans.

The trip was a metaphor, she said, for how people of all backgrounds are tied together and must share space.

Yet three billion people survive on less than $2 a day, and the three richest people in the world are richer than the bottom 48 countries combined, Kennedy said. She told graduates those statistics matter because poverty contributes to terrorism and crises across the world.

"Economic prosperity contributes to global peace," she said.

Kennedy urged students to make an effort to continue learning after school, despite easy distractions.

"Learn why the world wags and what wags it," Kennedy said. "That is the one thing the mind can never exhaust."

The Rev. Edmund K. Sherill II, head chaplain, began the ceremony with an invocation, asking the crowd to remember on Memorial Day all who gave their lives for the country.

Head of School John C. Warren also presented awards to students, including both underclassmen and graduates.

Whaley, who also won the Founders Medal and Thayer Prize, received the Philip Gallatin Camaann Science Prize; the Frederick R. Avis and Anna M. Pliscz Biology Prize; and the John Suydam Mathematics Prize.

Akers, the valedictorian, also landed the John A. Carey Prize for excelling in visual arts.

Underclassmen Trevor Charles Donnelly and Elizabeth Jenna Britt won the Brantwood Prize for contributing most to the school's partnership with the Brantwood Camp.

Seniors Jinny Yunjin Lee and William Bartholomew Ricketson won the Carleton Burr Rand Prize for excellence in journalism. Ricketson also won the George Hall Burnett Prize in History.

Both the Coleman Prize in English and the Peter Bryce Appleton Prize for Excellence in Spanish went to underclassman Hyunji Connie Lee.

Senior Sara Lianna Legasey won the William Otis Smith Prize for English Verse.

An underclassman, Albert Coolidge Gilbane, won the Redmond Prize for English Narrative.

Another underclassman, Kasey Anne Wagner, received the Frederick A. Camaann Music Prize.

E. Nicholas Alexander Generous, a senior, won the St. Mark's Physics Prize.

Colin Michael Smith, also a senior, received the Roy Irving Murray Prize for Excellence in Sacred Studies.

Catherine Lia Wayman, a senior, received the H. Casimir De Rham Prize for Excellence in French.

Andrew Higgins Quinn, also graduating, landed the John Richard White Prize for Excellence in German and the Frederick R. Flichtner Prize for Excellence in History.

The Henry B. Kidder Prize for Excellence in Latin was given to senior Meryl Elizabeth Poulin.

Senior Antonio Joseph Fazio received the Morris H. Morgan Prize for Excellence in Greek and Harold Hayes Prize for the graduate who have the greatest service to St. Mark's.

Underclassman Swetha Padmanjani Dravida got the John and Elizabeth Munroe Prize for intellectual leadership or fulfilling the ideals of the school.

Sarah Jeanette Meyer, a senior, won the Association of St. Mark's Scohool Prize for service to the community beyond St. Mark's.

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